The 1997–98 NBA season was the Lakers' 50th season in the National Basketball Association, and 38th in the city of Los Angeles.^[1] During the off-season, the Lakers signed free agents Rick Fox,^[2][3][4] and three-point specialist Jon Barry.^[5] Second-year shooting guard, and last season's Slam Dunk champion Kobe Bryant emerged as a star in his second season, playing an increased role as the team's sixth man, averaging 15.4 points per game off the bench, while being selected to start in the 1998 NBA All-Star Game at the age of 19, which was his first ever All-Star appearance;^[6][7][8][9] Bryant scored 18 points in 22 minutes, as the Western Conference lost to the Eastern Conference, 135–114.^[10][11][12] Joining him on the Western Conference All-Star roster were teammates Shaquille O'Neal, Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel.^{[13][14][15][16][17]} Bryant also finished in second place in Sixth Man of the Year voting behind Danny Manning of the Phoenix Suns.^[18][19][20]

The Lakers got off to a fast start to the season winning their first eleven games,^[21] before losing O'Neal to a strained stomach muscle that forced him to sit out 20 games.^{[22][23][24][25]} In his absence, the Lakers went 13–7. In January, Van Exel went down with a knee injury missing 18 games,^[26][27][28] and was replaced with second-year guard Derek Fisher as the team's starting point guard for the remainder of the season.^[29] The Lakers held a 34–11 record at the All-Star break,^[30] and won 22 of their final 25 games to tie the Pacific Division title with the Seattle SuperSonics with a 61–21 record.^[31] It was the Lakers' best record since the 1989–90 season.

O'Neal averaged 28.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, and also finished in fourth place in Most Valuable Player voting.^[32][33] In addition, Jones averaged 16.9 points and 2.0 steals per game, and was named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while Van Exel provided the team with 13.8 points and 6.9 assists per game, and Fox contributed 12.0 points per game. Robert Horry averaged 7.4 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.3 blocks per game, while Elden Campbell provided with 10.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game off the bench, and Fisher contributed 5.8 points and 4.1 assists per game.^[34]

In the playoffs, the Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, 3–1 in the Western Conference First Round for the second consecutive year,^{[35][36][37][38]} then after losing Game 1 of the Western Conference Semi-finals to the 2nd–seeded SuperSonics, 106–92 at Seattle,^[39][40][41] the Lakers would win the next four games, thus the series.^{[42][43][44][45]} However, in the Western Conference finals, they were swept by the top-seeded Utah Jazz in four straight games.^{[46][47][48][49]} The Jazz would go on to lose in six games to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals for the second straight year.^{[50][51][52][53][54]}

Following the season, Van Exel was traded to the Denver Nuggets after feuding with head coach Del Harris,^{[55][56][57][58]} and Barry signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings.^[59][60]

NOTE: Please write the players statistics in alphabetical order by last name.